HRW urges EU to pressure Tehran on human rights [Getting worse in Iran]

[democratic]

-I've heard people talk about things getting better in Iran, but having spoken to many in Iran things are getting far worse and the "dialogue" that the European Union has been investing has given the regime an upperhand in crushing all pro-Democracy groups.

http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=41466&SelectRegion=Central_Asia&SelectCountry=IRAN

ANKARA, 8 Jun 2004 (IRIN) - Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged the European Union (EU) to put pressure on the Iranian authorities to make further improvements in human rights by abandoning the torture and ill-treatment of detainees, and to restore freedom of expression in the country.

"The EU has been having a human rights dialogue in Iran for the past three years but there has been no tangible improvement in the human rights situation from this dialogue. Among the agreements they have it should be clearly specified that human rights must be met," Burmi Shah, HRW press officer, told IRIN from London.

"After 1997 there appeared to be a tiny window opening up for people to be able to express their opinion even if they were critical of the government. However, that space has been closed. The Iranian government responded to massive student demonstrations in 2002 and 2003 by arresting several people and detaining them for a long time," the HRW official stated.

She explained that most of the independent newspapers were shut down, and journalists, writers and intellectuals were harassed and forced to leave the country.

International press freedom organisations such as Reporters Without Borders (RSF) have protested at the harassment and imprisonment of several journalists, noting the increase in the number of media workers jailed in the past six months.

"Iran has the highest number of journalists in prison in the Middle East, making it one of the most repressive in the world in terms of press freedom and freedom of expression. During the last six months I get the sense that the situation has again taken a turn for the worse," Kajsa Tornroth, director of the World Association of Newspapers' (WAN) press freedom programme, told IRIN from Paris.

[struggle4progress]

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